Hunger Strike by Imprisoned Student Mojtaba Dadashi in Protest of Prison Officials’ Neglect of His Illness

After the Revolutionary Court issued a three-year prison sentence against Mojtaba Dadashi, he did not appeal the sentence due to the unfair process of Iranian courts. His sentence was confirmed exactly as stated in the appeals court, and ten days after the confirmation of his sentence on April 13, 2019, he was transferred to Sabzevar Prison to serve his time. According to the informed source, he is housed in an unsanitary cell with dangerous prisoners.

According to this source, “sanitary medications not only failed to help but worsened his condition, and for the past two days his eyes have become yellowed. He had no history of respiratory infections, and it appears that due to the contaminated and filthy prison environment, he has contracted an infection.“

This source said: “Due to his condition and the failure of prison officials to transfer him to the hospital, Mojtaba began a hunger strike in the prison from May 2nd.”

This source said: “Mojtaba is housed with dangerous prisoners. Essentially, Sabzevar Prison does not have crime classification or separate political prisoner sections. After his transfer to the prison, he had requested to be transferred to another cell, which the Sabzevar prosecutor also agreed to, and he was moved to the Dar al-Quran ward of the prison, which is like a Husseiniyeh in the prison and is clean, but after a few days he was transferred to another cell where, according to Mojtaba, sanitary conditions are not maintained at all.“

Mojtaba Dadashi, born in 1995, a final year student of Political Science at Hakim Sabzevari University in Sabzevar, was charged with three counts and ultimately sentenced to three years imprisonment and 74 lashes due to publishing a video on social media pages in February 2019.

This student was charged with two counts of “insulting the leadership“ and “propaganda against the system“ in the Sabzevar Revolutionary Court as well as the charge of “insulting state officials“ in the Sabzevar Criminal Court. Both of these courts were presided over by Judge Mohammad Gholami on the same day (March 16, 2019) and in a single closed-door session. According to a judgment he received on April 4th, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for insulting the leadership, one year imprisonment for propaganda against the system, and 74 lashes for insulting state officials.

Mojtaba Dadashi was summoned a few days later, on April 13th, to the enforcement division of sentences, and from there was transferred to Sabzevar Prison, where he remains to this day.

On February 5th, 2019, Mojtaba Dadashi published a several-minute video on his Twitter page in which, after introducing himself as “an individual opposed to existing oppression and tyranny“, he criticized the Iranian government, which responds to workers and women with batons. He said “This system is for a minority that has sucked the blood of this nation for forty years. This system is for the privileged children of officials, not for me and you..“

An informed source had previously stated in a conversation with the campaign regarding the manner of his arrest: “Mojtaba published this video on February 5th, and one day after the February 11th rally, a summons was sent to him by the Third Branch of the Sabzevar Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office with a complaint from the Sabzevar prosecutor’s office asking him to present himself to the prosecutor’s office. Mojtaba went to the prosecutor’s office the next day on February 24th but was arrested immediately and transferred to Sabzevar Prison. From that moment, he went on a hunger strike in protest of his arrest and in claim of his innocence. Mojtaba was released four days later with a bail of 200 million Tomans.“

This source regarding other activities of Mr. Dadashi before his arrest said: “Mojtaba only occasionally wrote his critical opinions about the political and social situation of society on his Twitter and Telegram channel. Once in January 2017, during public protests, when Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, went to Sabzevar University to give a speech, he voiced his protest during this speech. Some parts of his criticism of Alamolhoda’s speech were also published on websites. But apart from these activities, he had no other activities.“